TRANSGENDER SUPPORT GROUP

The trans support group was established at the beginning of 2012, after the Helsinki Committee organized a training with Kristian Randjelovic from Transgender Europe.

Mission

The mission of the transgender support group is strengthening the trans community for self-advocacy and self-support, changing the legal and social status of transgender people, as well as legal regulation and provision of the needed legal and medical services without discrimination on the grounds of gender identity.

Vision

The vision of the trans support group is a society where gender identity of people shall be respected and shall not be an obstacle for enjoyment of basic human rights and freedoms, while the needed legal and medical services shall be received in accordance with individual needs, without discrimination. It is a society where declarative principles for achieving the highest possible standard of health shall be applied in practice without discrimination on the grounds of gender identity.

Manner of operation of this group

The group offers several different types of support: from direct and personal discussions and answers to the member’s questions, to psychological support, referral to health professionals, giving links to other relevant websites, film projections and book discussions in the form of educational workshops, other useful publications etc.

Meetings and trainings

Between the first meetings, some of the members decided to prepare a small practical handbook with important information, which the group members considered needed. The first version of the handbook was distributed among the participants on the meetings. The handbook is continuously updated, proportionally to the growth of opportunities and capacities.

At the end of 2012, the second training with Kristian Randjelovic was held, together with other members from the trans team from Belgrade. The goal of the training was to strengthen the community and creating a medical team in Macedonia, in order to provide trans people with a possibility to start their medical transition without having a need to travel abroad. The medical team shall continue to have meetings, to share materials and experiences, in order to build a professional and sensitized team.

The Report from the training with the Belgrade team on 30.11 and 01.12.2012 can be downloaded here (in Macedonian) .

The Centre shall continue to organize these support groups in order to give support to individuals in their own cases, and hence to elaborate the issue more thoroughly, and create conditions for provision of all services which trans people should receive as citizens with equal rights.

Contact

If you need any type of support on this topic, or you want to participate on the group meetings, contact us on the following e-mail.